The Stranger
by Erythreas
Summary: "Preserving the balance is their task, for there is no other right for these monstrosities to exist. Neither beings of light, nor creatures of darkness, they are lost between." - from 'Children of the Black Blood', a fantasy novel in Blake Beladonna's collection. Every fantasy has a connection to the real world, but team RWBY never suspected this quote to be that literal.
1. 01 - Landfall

During the past Dust has been a crucial part of her existence. Her skills depended not so much on it, however. It was her eyes on the many assignments she had undertaken in the name of the truce, which had been forged so long ago. Chains around her forearms, her waist and her right thigh were a constant reminder of that truce. They were the leash, keeping her in check, the bindings of a prisoner – and Dust was her warden.

They stood before the Council once again – the three entities, tasked with testing her, putting her being to a useful purpose for the greater good of existence itself. Her actions have doomed many, but brought just as much salvation. And the Council had yet another task for her. The chains, as always, locked her in place.

The one on her thigh forced her to kneel.

The one around her waist would keep her on the spot, when she was not forced to kneel.

The ones around her forearms made her stretch out her arms, palms to the front.

Thus, she knelt before the Council, looking down at the floor, as she always did, awaiting her orders. The Council was made up of two male and one female individual, with her seated in the middle.

"You have been summoned here, for we demand a service of you." These words were the beginning of every ritualized meeting the Council held with her. Dust would always be close by, but never in the Council chamber. She was relaxed, used to the devote position she had been forced into so many times. Her attention was with the Council.

"The Council has learned of a disturbance in the balance. Your task is simple: You will venture to a Kingdom by the name of Vale, find the source of that disturbance, and eliminate the threat."

An execution order. The last one was given to her not so long ago. It was a traitor to her kind she had to execute, and she had to travel far and wide to find him, and do, as the Council commanded.

As usual, the Council would give mere clues to the place she was going to go, which she had to figure out by herself – it has always been this way.

After they allowed her to leave, and she was outside the Council chamber, Dust was with her once more. Equipped with nothing more than black, tattered clothing, which included a hooded cape, the chains, which had been useful on several occasions, Dust and her trusty scythe, which was currently shape shifted to a glove-like construct around her left forearm and hand, she went to the Edge once more. The guardians stood there, focusing her, judging her for what she was. The step to begin her journey was like the many others she took before, and thus, she found herself falling again, Dust by her side.

* * *

After a brief fall of just a few minutes, they landed in the middle of what had to be ancient ruins.

"Hmmmm… Looks like our trajectory was a little off…" Dust said, after flying up to a branch of a tree. The black crow with red glowing eyes looked around, as his subject slowly rose in the middle of the crater her landing had created. Her eyes were glowing red like his, but her body was that of a being of the light. She looked around the ruins, taking in the new environment. It was a warm day, the sun stood high above the ruins of what seemed to be a temple.

"Where are we, then?" she asked, getting her senses used to the environment.

"By the looks of it, we are in ancient ruins, far away from any civilization – present civilization to be precise. This crumbling building seems to be a temple," Dust answered, changing trees for a change of perspective. "Uh, never mind the far away part, friend! I spotted inhabitants!" the bird suddenly exclaimed. She looked around quickly, and went inside a nearby alcove, which would conceal her in its shadows. The inhabitants were humans, creatures she had seen often during her many assignments. Many a time they were the reason for them in the first place, but never were these creatures able to disturb the balance majorly. And these were merely explorers, with an escort of four warriors by their side, which made a total of seven humans in the ruins. It was bad luck that the annoyingly curious, yet cunning creatures already found the first trace of her presence in their home.

"Look at this, doctor," a female with blonde hair said.

"This crater wasn't here yesterday," an old male responded, who must've been doctor. It was a strange name, if she had ever heard one.

"Eyes open. We're not alone here," another male, hardened by combat, commanded his fellow warriors, before addressing doctor. "You should leave, there are probably Grimm here," he stated.

Grimm was a term for a group of creatures, most likely the enemies of these humans. She knew humans tend to fight each other, so she assumed Grimm to be other humans.

"Yes, yes, you are right. Maybe it will move on during the night, and we can continue our studies here in peace, if it doesn't find us. We should all leave, my friend," the old male suggested, and after a short consideration, the warrior leader accepted the wisdom of the elder. Thus, the humans left as swiftly, as they have shown up in the ruins. She could not get a look at the creatures, or else her red glowing eyes would have revealed her presence. She waited about an hour before re-emerging from the alcove. Dust had hidden himself among the treetops, and just landed on a wall close by.

"Oh wow, that was quick… And I thought we could use these ruins as our base of operations," Dust complained. She only sighed. "Humans… Humans everywhere…" he continued his complaint.

"It can't be helped, and we need to move, before Grimm show themselves here, as well," she answered, and started climbing a far wall, while the sun was behind her. She was saving her strength for the time being, since humans used to pose no actual threat to her at all. They were weak compared to the many monstrosities and abominations she and Dust had encountered so far.

As she reached the top of the wall, her eyes glared at a widespread forest, whichever way she looked.

"I couldn't see any sign of settlement from here. Although the humans must have a camp nearby, they live further away from this temple," Dust explained, while circling around her.

"Then continuing the way with the sun behind us is as good a direction as any, I say," she replied.

"Yes, and we should try if you can use your abilities – just in case."

Dust flew down the wall, while she jumped off of it, landing on the grass with a relatively loud bang. Her armored boots withstood the impact, just as she did, but she had created another, smaller crater in the process. She started walking away from the ruins, and stretched out her right arm. Her essence started flowing between the ground and her hand, creating a brief rift between the plains of existence, so that she could summon her horse, named Ruin – a fitting name for his first appearance in this place. She started running, while Ruin galloped out of the ground, emerging on the plain its master was currently on. Eventually, the summoning was complete, and she sat in the saddle of the black horse with glowing red markings on its neck, and looked at Dust.

"I think my abilities work just as fine as everywhere else we've been so far," she concluded.

"Well, you never know," Dust replied to that, as they started moving away from the ruins and the humans nearby. While she was riding through the forest, Dust flew up ahead, scouting the area. The forest itself seemed to be a lush area, suitable for a variety of life, and it did not take long for her to encounter wildlife on her way. Naturally it evaded her, as she evaded it, but there was something else beyond the trees, which caused these animals to be on guard. A few minutes later Dust revealed the answer. "Over here! You might want to see this!"

After she got off Ruin and ventured through some undergrowth, she found a creature. The black beast Dust had found stood at three meters height on its hind legs, its back turned towards her, and seemed to be looking for something. As it turned towards her, the creature revealed bone plates covering its front legs, head and chest. Its eyes were glowing red, just like Dust's and hers. And before she was even considering it, the creature engaged her in combat, after a threatening roar.

As it charged, she loosened her weapon from her arm, and shifted it into its true form: A scythe, 1.80 meters in length, with a spearhead on the one end, and the blade on the other. She was holding the weapon in her left hand, the blade next to her leg pointed at the creature. In the moment it rose to smash her into the ground, she made a step to the right, guiding the blade towards the attacking beast. To her surprise, the beast shifted its point of balance to the left – from her point of view – and thus dodged her counter attack, and maneuvered itself behind her. She adjusted her position to face the beast again, which already lunged at her. She swung her scythe from left to right, holding the weapon near the spearheaded end, and threw it back onto the clearing it just was. She observed the beast, which was stunned by her blow, and cut by the blade. However, there was no blood to be seen, and neither did the wound influence it in any visible way. To end this pointless fight, she rushed in, slammed the spearhead against the creatures head from below. She grabbed the spearheaded end again, und smashed the scythe blade into its head, penetrating the bone armor and destroying the skull in the process. The fight was won, and the creature started to evaporate into black smoke, which then turned towards her. Before she could react, she absorbed the dying beast's evaporation just by being close. Its essence started flowing through her, and replenished her expended energy, much to her surprise; and even more to Dust's.

"Did I just see that right?" Dust asked, after the creature had disappeared completely. "You just absorbed its essence?!"

"Yes. It's much like my own, in fact," she replied.

"Hm, that explains why it happened, but still doesn't make much sense," he exclaimed, gesturing with his wings as if they were arms.

"The disturbance in the balance may be involved here," she presumed.

"You mean it's one of us?" he asked, tipping his beak with his right wing.

"Wouldn't be the first," she remarked.

"These renegades…" he sighed.

She got onto Ruin's back again, and continued the way, she was going. Dust led the way until the sun eventually set to her left side. The land cooled down quite a bit, after darkness took over. To make things even more difficult, the duo arrived at the bottom of a cliff. She did not even start an argument with Dust, however, but instead dismissed Ruin into the plains where she had summoned him from earlier, and started making her way up the cliff. This time she manifested a clawed hand as an extension of her arm to grapple onto some ledges, which sped up her climbing endeavor a lot. Only a few minutes later she had brought the cliff behind herself, and looked at Dusk, who himself was looking at a clearly formed stone – human work, most likely.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"A grave," he answered, and read the inscription on the stone, "'Summer Rose; Thus kindly I scatter'"

"A beautiful inscription," she said, kneeling before the grave for a brief moment. Dust just nodded, and addressed the spirit of Summer Rose, who was probably in close vicinity.

"Don't mind us, Summer Rose. We're just passing through," he said, spreading his wings in front of the grave, and lowering his head. There was a brief moment of silence. Summer Rose did not respond.

"Why did you do that?"

"Well, Summer Rose could be some sort of guardian spirit, and we don't mean any harm to its subjects, so I thought, telling it would be a good idea," he answered to her question, while she was getting up and started to leave already.

"Alright, I don't think you did anything wrong by that. And now we know, there is a settlement nearby. Thank you." Then they left the grave's area, and she mounted re-summoned Ruin once more. They decided to follow the cliff for the time being, and eventually saw some lights in the distance. As they came closer, the illuminated area turned out to be bigger, than any human settlement they have seen so far.

"Talk about cities… This one is huge," Dust said in amazement, and even she was a bit overwhelmed by the size of this particular one. "We're supposed to find the disturbance in there?" he asked.

"Assuming this city is Vale," she added.

"Good point, good point," he answered.

"Anyway, we should enter this city," she proclaimed after a while.

"Huh? Why?" Dust asked.

"We still need to find Vale, and even if this is not the place, one of the humans in there should know where to find it," she explained, "and by the looks of it, there will be plenty of ways to travel. I can see a large harbor from here."

"Okay, so… Let's find a way inside the walls, then," Dust said, and immediately flew off towards them. She dismissed Ruin once again, since his services would not be needed in this area. The coastline was close by on her left, where the cliff had cut off the land below. To her right was the forest she was riding along, but between her, and the city itself was a big canyon, which made it nigh impossible for any assaulting force to even get close to the wall itself.

Dust took his time, almost an hour, until he eventually returned to her.

"Oh my," he started, "This city is even bigger, than I anticipated."

"Did you find an entrance for us, though?" she asked, as she offered her left shoulder for him to sit on.

"The wall is too well guarded for us to get over unnoticed. Whatever they're walling up against, they surely fear it. We could get in via the waterway. The harbor isn't as well guarded as the wall, as far as I could see – whatever the reason for that may be."

"The waterway it is, then," she said, and ran towards the cliff's edge. A leap and a several hundred meter drop later, she entered the water, and began swimming towards the harbor. In the meantime, Dust was scouting for a good spot to get out of the water again, and showed it to her, after she re-emerged at the surface. Stone walls had been built for ships to dock at, but metal ladders were placed in somewhat regular distances, so that she could literally choose, where to go on land again.

The harbor area was flooded with bright light, originating from several metal poles. Whatever illuminated the area could not be fire – the light was too bright and cold for that. Almost no buildings could be found near the quay walls, which meant there were almost no shadows she could conceal herself in. The closest buildings were several meters, something around a hundred, away.

"Whatever they're defending against," Dust said, while she was still looking for some place to hide herself, "They didn't anticipate someone like us," he finished somewhat proudly.

"Let's get out of here. Look for guards," she said, and made a run for the closest building. Dust flew towards it himself. Finally in the shadows, Dust reported a single human watching some window like things, of which one actually showed her running around. He informed her that the human used a black device, which he held to his ear, and talked to something called 'police'. He assumed that it was a local expression for guards, and thus, she decided to move quickly on top of the building.

"What kind of trickery is this?" she asked, as she jumped off of the building on top of some larger metal housings.

"I don't know, but look over there," he answered, and pointed to some blue and red lights flashing in the distance. They could hear a strange sound being emitted by something in that direction.

"I just realized how high up we are," Dust noticed. She took a quick look down, and agreed with a nod. A wall made of woven Metal separated the harbor from the rest of the city, where the buildings were even higher than the building she used to get on those metal housings. She jumped over the wall like structure, onto the side of one such building with many windows, and started climbing it, using the spirit hand to get to the top more swiftly.

Up at the top, she and Dust witnessed the arrival of strange wagon like metal things without horses, driving by themselves. These vehicles emitted the strange noise they were hearing, and several humans emerged out of them. They started searching the harbor the duo just left.

"Horseless wagons," Dust said, "This place is going to be interesting."

"Humans are full of surprises, I have to admit it," she added, and they started moving away from the harbor via the rooftops. When they could not hear the noisy humans any more, she stopped and took in the environment again. There were plenty of large buildings, some towers made of glass, which were even higher than the buildings she just crossed, glowing letters attached to walls down at the streets, which were made of some sort of cast stone. At the sides of these streets stood many other horseless wagons, in many different shapes and colors. Even humans could be seen down below them during the night, which was unnaturally bright due to the many light sources placed in regular distances. Additionally, there were bridges of several sized scattered across the city, with even brighter lights illuminating them. A hand full of the strange wagons without horses to pull them moved through the streets, as well. On top of the glass towers she could read several signs that read 'Schnee Dust Company – Vale HQ', 'Cinder Industries', among other things, she presumed to be names of organizations.

"This Company thing has Vale in it – maybe we can find the disturbance there," Dust said, looking around himself. "But I think we should not draw any more attention towards us. Observe," he added, and pointed at a horseless wagon with the red and blue lights on top of it, although they weren't flashing. It moved down the street slowly, so that one inside could observe the surrounding area efficiently.

"They're looking for something," she assumed, "probably us. And these glass towers seem important, so I think we can find this trickery there as well."

"Good thinking, friend," he replied.

Thus, Dust and his subject stayed on top of the building they were currently on, and waited for dawn to arrive.

* * *

 **On the next chapter: First contact**

 **Four familiar Huntresses in training go shopping on an ordinary day off of studying the ways of their craft. In the City of Vale they meet a strangely confused individual, not even aware of where she is, with strangely red eyes, and a pet crow.**


	2. 02 - First contact

They waited patiently. Dawn eventually arrived, and the city below filled with people. They watched as the bridges filled with horseless wagons, as the inhabitants flooded the streets of the city, only to enter underground structures labeled with blue glowing signs. At the same time, flying vehicles of varying sized started to occupy the skies above, some leaving the city entirely, while others flew around in relative close proximity. Much like these aerial vehicles above, larger wagons appeared on the streets below. Most of these bigger wagons seemed to be used for transporting wares, but there were those with plenty of windows and inhabitants inside them.

One particular vehicle of yellow color caught her attention, as it went through the street right below her. Dust flew down to investigate, and returned shortly after. "Small humans… Children, are being transported to a school – at least that's what the writing on that 'bus' said: 'School bus'", he explained, even forming quotation marks with his wings in the process.

"That color makes them easy to spot…" she thought out aloud.

"Maybe that's the point," Dust suggested in addition.

"What else did you notice?"

"Well, these inhabitants dress in many colors and shapes; some are even wearing chains as decorations… Other inhabitants have animalistic body parts, like horns, ears and insect antennas."

"Are they anthropomorphic animals?" she inquired.

"No, they look like ordinary humans with these additional body parts, which seem to be functional from what I could see," he explained. She just took in this new information and nodded slightly. Dust continued.

"I could overhear some people talk about the 'Vytal Festival', which is occurring right now, and they mentioned an academy. I'm no expert in information gathering, but a place of knowledge seems to be a good point to continue our search."

"Agreed. If we're lucky the humans might have noticed the disturbance we're looking for," she said, and started to climb down the building, using the concealment of the neighboring one. The lack of windows on that particular side of the building helped conceal their descent, as did the lack of inhabitant activity on the street below. As they touched the ground, a small black animal hissed at Dust, before crying out a fearful meow and running away.

"Where there're humans, their pets are not far away… A cat…" she stated. Dust simply croaked to that, which made her grin in amusement. "Let's try to blend in."

* * *

A few moments later she found herself near a street where many of the wagons were driven by inhabitants of many different kinds, including some with the animalistic body parts which Dust had described back on the rooftops. She followed the street, which was conveniently divided into areas for those on foot, and those using the wagons, while the wagon area's stripes seemed to be used for orientation purposes. Upon getting to a crossing, she noticed lights hanging above, red, yellow, and green, which switched in a regular pattern. Through observation she learned that this was another method of regulation, with the red light being a signal to hold and wait for others to pass, and the green light being a signal to move on again.

But there were other bright lights adorning the streets of the city. Some seemed to praise the glory of a man wearing almost nothing, whose name seemed to be "Clavin White". Behind a corner she found yet another strange thing, which caught her immediate and undivided attention. It was a small box that projected a different place on a smaller scale, in which a man could be seen, who actually spoke and moved. He presented news – which was conveniently labeled in the top right corner of the moving image in bright, red letters for those unknowing – and talked about an upcoming tournament between several academies, which consisted of fights between teams of students. The number of the academies was four: Beacon, Haven, Atlas and Shade.

"…warriors…" she thought out aloud. "They're training warriors on a large scale… I wonder…"

Her trail of thought was interrupted by a young female's voice, stating her excitement about the upcoming tournament, which the herald just had mentioned.

"…and there will be dances, and plays, and other contests to partake in. I'm so excited," another young female's voice said just as excitedly as the first one, but with an almost noble demeanor. It did not take her long to find the sources of these two voices, who were accompanied by yet another two female inhabitants. All four distinguished themselves from one another by the colors red, white, black and yellow, from clothing to hair. As she closed in on the quartet, the black haired one, clad in long, black boots covering white pants, a black vest covering a white top, and a black bow on top of her head, noticed her approach. The inhabitant carried a short, but unusually broad sword on her back, which was adorned with a long, black band. As the others were notified of her approach, she stopped, while Dust took off of her shoulder to circle around them. The one in the white dress, carrying a rapier, the one with the red cloak, black dress and a bag containing some devise on her lower back, and the blonde one, who was clad in obscenely short clothing, turned their attention towards her.

However, there was no hostility or repellence in their stances or body language – much to her surprise – and only the seemingly youngest of them, who was the red one, looked after Dust. A bit unsure of what to do in this situation, she decided to greet the quartet.

"Warriors…" she said in a greeting tone, which earned her a confused and curious look by the four inhabitants.

"We're Huntresses, actually," the red one corrected her shortly afterwards. "I'm Ruby Rose, and these are my team mates: Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long," she then introduced herself and her companions, while they nodded, as their names were mentioned. Blake and Weiss even smiled, the one warmly, the other politely. She was overwhelmed by the sheer lack of hostility towards her, and it took Dust's signal to break the silence, which had befallen the scene.

"Isdorath… I'm called Isdorath…" she introduced herself, shifting her weight from the left leg onto her right one.

"No need to be shy," Yang said, and approached Isdorath. The situation was completely new to her; a warm welcome instead of repellence and mistrust towards her. She took a few moments to adjust to the behavior of the Huntresses before her. And she wondered why they would do such a thing. Were they powerful, so they would not have to fear her kind?

"Hey, Isdorath," Yang spoke up again, dragging the black clad individual out of her trail of thought, "are you listening?"

The blonde human seemed to be hardened by battle, much to Isdorath's surprise, considering the four young Huntresses have not even seen twenty winters. She could tell by the movements and body language of Yang that this individual was ready to defend herself and the ones around her, but against what, Isdorath could not tell.

"I am… Afraid, I did not listen…" she replied.

"Well," the blonde continued the conversation, "I asked you if you're lost or anything?"

It was a curious experience to be offered assistance for Isdorath.

"I have never been to this city…" the one wearing not much more but black rags and chains answered.

"So, you are lost," Ruby stated in Yang's stead. "Where're you headed?" she asked afterwards.

While two of the young Huntresses seemingly wanted to help Isdorath, the other two, especially Blake, seemed to be cautious. Weiss joined Ruby at her right side and took the right hand of the red caped Huntress with her own right hand. For what reason, Isdorath could not tell. Blake on the other hand kept her distance, as Isdorath was all too familiar with. However, she did not waste this completely new opportunity.

"I am headed towards the academy…" Isdorath explained, and thus caused even more suspicion by the cautious two, and excitement by the red hooded girl.

"Oh, so you're a Huntress in training, too," Ruby exclaimed excitedly, and started barraging Isdorath with questions.

"Where are you from? What's your weapon? What's your semblance? Where did you get these chains? They look cool. I also like your hoodie. See, Weiss? I told you these hoodies are cool. What happened to your clothes, though? And your eyes-"

"Ruby, will you stop it?" Weiss interrupted the onslaught of questions, much to Isdorath's relief. As innocent and natural these questions may have been, as dangerous was the knowledge their answers would have provided.

"Can't you see she's overwhelmed and confused?" the white one continued berating the red one in a harsh tone, before Yang enjoined both of them to keep their promise in mind, which must have been made prior to the current situation.

"C'mon, Weiss. You know, Ruby wants to befriend everyone," the blonde jested lastly, before turning to Isdorath. "We were just going for some shopping. You can come along, if you like, and afterwards we'll all go back to the Academy."

"Very well…" Isdorath replied," I shall accompany you, then."

The pact was almost settled, as Yang stretched out her hand towards Isdorath – a common gesture amongst humans, as she had learned. However, Blake kept a close eye on her, just as suspiciously as before.

"Something wrong, Blake?" Yang asked, and looked at her.

"…Her eyes are glowing red," Blake answered. That resulted in all four Huntresses in training taking a closer look at Isdorath's face.

"Are you sure?" Yang asked Blake again, while moving to look at Isdorath from different angles. "Ah, now I see it. What's up with that?"

"Dust poisoning, most likely," Weiss assumed. While Isdorath might have seemed to be confused before, now she definitely was.

"…Dust poisoning?" she, Ruby, and Yang asked in unison.

"Yes," Weiss started to explain, "This kind of poisoning occurs when using excessive amounts of Dust in a short period of time. Do you guys remember when my own eyes were glowing white for… What was it? About an hour and a half?" Weiss asked her friends, and all three nodded to answer that question.

"That was a minor case of Dust poisoning, since I literally used kilos of white Dust at once to beat Yang in our last duel. Since I do this kind of thing very rarely, the effects wore off relatively quickly." Everybody nodded again, showing that they understood what Weiss was talking about.

"And Isdorath here obviously had been using large amounts of red Dust at once over a longer period of time, which is why her eyes are STILL glowing red. In some cases, these effects don't wear off at all. However, this is just a visible effect. The body is damaged over time, similar to the results of excessive alcohol or tobacco abuse: Suicide in installments."

This explanation was the excuse Dust and Isdorath needed in order to avoid any further questions about the red glowing eyes of theirs. Weiss' friends agreed to the given explanation, while Ruby admired her knowledge about this topic in a fashion that could only be described as romantic. Meanwhile Yang and Blake admitted, that they have not been thinking about it.

Since Weiss provided a cover for Isdorath, which she gladly accepted, there was no more reason to linger, and the quartet went on to their 'shopping'. Isdorath did not know what that would be about, but she was about to find out.

* * *

The quintet entered a large building called a mall, in which many shops and stands could be found on several levels. Isdorath marveled at the architectural wonders she had only seen where she is from, but while she was merely tolerated back home, she was a welcome guest in this temple like structure with its glass walls, stairs moving by themselves – escalators they were called – and even the music coming out of small boxes in the ceiling.

The inhabitants of Remnant used the term shopping for just that. Browsing through shops, buying things they need or like or simply want to have in the process. During this experience Isdorath learned of Dust; Crystals with elemental potentials, like the four elements of fire, water, air and earth, but also including lightning, force and ice among others. In addition, the crystals were in some cases ground to dust, which held even more potency at the cost of stability. Huntresses and Huntsmen, their male comrades, would rely on this resource in order to fight the Creatures of Grimm. As the four friends learned that Isdorath had fought such a Grimm – namely an Ursa – by herself they were impressed by that feat.

"Okay, team RWBY," Ruby said as they rested at a bench in the middle of the mall. "Now that the chores are done, it's time for the fun part." All four of them smiled happily. "We'll meet up here in about two hours, and then head back to the Academy, alright?" the youngest of the four Huntresses, who strangely lead the team, explained their plan.

"Alright, time to get some new boots," Yang said, clapping her hands together and rubbing them. Blake simply followed the blonde. Any suspicions towards Isdorath seemed to have vanished by that moment. Isdorath stayed with Ruby, since she asked her to – much to the disapproval of Weiss, who then took off on her own.

"Okay, now that she's away, I can start looking for a birthday present for Weiss," Ruby thought out loud, while she rushed along the lines of shops behind glass walls, until she stopped in front of one called 'Bejeweled Jewelry'. Isdorath simply followed the girl to and inside the shop. There were many different kinds of jewelry on display, ranging from rings over necklaces to bracers of various sizes and shapes. Inside the shop Isdorath learned of the currency 'Lien', and how trade was made by the inhabitants of Remnant. Her best bet would be to learn as much as possible by observation, before trying any of these social encounters herself. Thus she observed Ruby while browsing the cheaper necklaces the shop had to offer. It did not take long for the shopkeeper to address Ruby.

"May I assist you, Miss," he said. The shopkeeper was a man with white hair, a white beard and a metal frame on his nose, which contained two glasses in front of each eye. He also had a pair of wolf ears on top of his head. He was one of the

"Oh, uhm. Yes," Ruby stuttered. "I'm looking for a birthday present for my partner."

"Ah, yes," he said again, and smiled warmly. "You may consider this necklace," he then started to advertise one particular necklace made of silver. It was a simple piece of jewelry, at the cost of 300 Lien. Isdorath had yet to grasp whether that amount of money was much or not, especially in the given context.

"Oh, no no…" Ruby denied the suggested necklace. "I thought of something more personal. Maybe something like a locket, please?" she then asked insecurely. The shopkeeper took a brief moment to think, while Isdorath found yet another necklace. It was made of gold, and had a pendant in shape of the blossom of a rose.

"How about this one, Ruby?" Isdorath asked, and pointed at the necklace. As Ruby and the shopkeeper approached, her eyes widened in excitement.

"This. Is. PERFECT!" Ruby exclaimed, but immediately after saying it, she saddened. "…But I can't afford it." Isdorath took a look at the little sign which said the price of the necklace: 12.500 Lien.

"I am sorry, my dear," the shopkeeper said. "But I might have something similar in stock which you could probably afford. Please, wait here for a moment." That being said, the shopkeeper went into the back area of the shop.

"She would love this one here a lot, though…" Ruby was disappointed, sad even, about not being able to buy that necklace. The next moment, two masked men stormed the shop. One of them pointed a strange, small device at Ruby, while the other man pointed a similar thing at Isdorath.

"Hands up, girlies, this is a robbery!" one of them exclaimed. "On your knees, both of you. Hands on the head!" he then yelled. Ruby and Isdorath exchanged a brief glance to one another, and then both lunged at the bandits. Isdorath simply clenched her assailant's throat, before throwing him onto the ground, while Ruby punched the one on her side a few times, before she overpowered him shortly afterwards. As they pinned the bandits to the ground, Ruby used a different small device to talk into.

"Ehm, hello, I'm Ruby Rose, and I want to report an attempted robbery in 'Bejeweled Jewelry' in the Vale Central Mall… Two robbers, we got them already… Oh really? That's great, thank you, bye."

"What was that?" Isdorath inquired.

"I called the police, of course," Ruby replied. "They're supposed to take them in," she explained, and pointed on the bandit beneath her.

"When will the police be here?" Isdorath asked, but Ruby did not even answer, as three more men entered the shop. All three wore dark blue clothing. The term 'police' was written on the backs of the jackets.

"Huh, what a coincidence," one of the police men stated, while the other two placed metal rings around the wrists of the bandits, got a hold of them, and left. He then asked Ruby to show him her ID, who then handed over a small card to him. He inserted that card into a device, waited a moment for it to beep, and then returned the card to Ruby, before turning his attention to the shopkeeper, who had cowered behind the counter during the attempted robbery. The 'officer', as Ruby addressed the man in dark blue, asked the shopkeeper for his ID, and performed the same procedure as he did with Ruby. After that, he turned his attention to Isdorath, but stopped in the middle of his motion.

"What is wrong with your eyes?" he asked skeptically.

"Oh, that's just Dust poisoning," Ruby answered instead of Isdorath, "She has overdone it recently."

"Uh huh…" he answered to Ruby. "You should be careful with that stuff now, young lady. Your ID please," he then continued his routine.

"I do not have one," Isdorath answered.

"Hm, figured as much," he stated, but used his device regardless of the lack of ID. "Your name, please?" he then asked.

"Isdorath," she answered.

"And your last name?" he asked.

"It is the only one I have."

"Hm, okay. Your age?" he then wanted to know.

Isdorath took a brief moment to think about it. She never really bothered counting her years, and had to do that just now. "Seventeen," she finally concluded.

"Thank you. Your address, please?" he then continued.

"My what?" she asked in confusion.

He raised his right eyebrow. "Street and Number of your home," he explained. His questions started to be similar to the ones Ruby had asked when she met her.

"I do not have such a thing," Isdorath answered truthfully.

"Okay… Homeless…" the man said, and tapped on his device a few times. "And you were browsing here, right?" he then asked skeptically.

"I was following Ruby, for she would take me to the academy, after she is done with her business here." He turned to Ruby, who then immediately nodded in agreement.

"Alright… I think that's all I need, thank you. Have a nice day," he said, and then left the shop as well.

Ruby immediately turned to Isdorath. "That was awesome!"

"You definitely have earned a reward for saving me, and my business" the shopkeeper said, still shaken by the events that took place not even a minute before. "You wanted this necklace, right?" he then inquired, opened the glass case said necklace was inside of, and put it in a small, black box.

"Oh no, I can't accept that!" Ruby tried to refuse the reward given by the shopkeeper, but he kept insisting on it, until she eventually gave in to his request. The shopkeeper liberally handed 1.000 Lien to Isdorath, who successfully refused jewelry as a reward.

She simply stood by and observed Ruby Rose when they returned to the meeting point.

 **On the next chapter: Beacon**

 **After the heroic deeds of Ruby Rose and Isdorath, which are even mentioned by the heralds of news, team RWBY takes Isdorath to Beacon Academy, where she is reunited with her companion Dust, and receives an even more unfamiliar welcome by the headmaster.**


End file.
